All of the android phones are imitations of the original iPhone. As the android platform splinters among carriers with different hardware, none of them will be able to keep up with the quality of the iPhone.
I disagree. You could argue that the android phones are sort of imitations of the iPhone, but the iPhone imitated earlier smartphones (though not to quite the same degree).
I think your second point defies logic. More manufacturers, competing with eachother, mean more innovation and better quality.
Also, if you have Motorola, HTC, Samsung, LG, and others all producing Android phones the odds are very high that one or more of them will always put out a better phone than Apple. Some Android manufacturers will make some mediocre or subpar phones, (which nobody will buy) but their best ones will likely be superior to Apple’s.
Unless Apple can continually come out with major, patentable, innovations that at least temporarily leave the competition behind, (or Google totally screws up Android) it’s market share is going to slowly dwindle.
I think Apple’s only advantages are 1) It’s brand loyalty, 2) The fact that it produces its own operating system, so it can design its OS around its phones, while Android manufacturers must design their phones around Google’s OS.
I don't know how old you are, but I've heard all of this before. Only then, it about personal computers. IBM was going to rule them all, and the clones were destined to the dustbin of history. Didn't work out that way.
It's not really complicated. Competition is good, it spurs development. We all benefit from it, whether you use an android or an Iphone, you can bet your last dollar that neither product would be as good as it is today if companies weren't competing with each other.
Generic android tablets match the specs of the ipad.
When the next ipad comes out, it will likely have the best specs. Perhaps not. The Xoom may be about the same or better. But after the ipad is released, newer faster processors are coming on to the market, and the ipad provides a clear target to shoot for. So the specs would likely be passed in a fairly short time. Not immediately. About half the time, the ipad could arguably be seen as best, the other half the tablet with the newest best processors would be best.